rabble.ca - amazonhttps://rabble.ca/category/tags-issues/amazon
en'Hoarding' and 'price gouging' aren't pandemic-specific activitieshttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2020/04/hoarding-and-price-gouging-arent-pandemic-specific-activities
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Khadijah Kanji</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/shelves.jpg?itok=U0AzmM5l" width="1180" height="600" alt="Empty shelves at a grocery store in La Vern, Southern California. Image: Russ Allison Loar/Flickr" title="Empty shelves at a grocery store in La Vern, Southern California. Image: Russ Allison Loar/Flickr" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Last month, I was going store-to-store looking for disinfectant wipes. I had heard from others that the fabric germ-killers were a hot commodity these days, but it took several fruitless episodes of shelf-scrounging for that reality to sink in. An employee at one of the barren retail outlets I visited told me that his store receives a shipment every morning and that, within minutes, every last plastic dispenser is gone. I was indignant at all the shoppers who had emptied the shelves, leaving me empty-handed. I blamed "the Hoarders."</p>
<p>As the reality of a global pandemic has descended upon us over the past few weeks, pretty much every aspect of our lives has changed. Things that were important now seem, or are, irrelevant (like the scores of a hockey game); those things we took for granted -- like being able to enter a store with goods a-plenty -- are no longer givens. With this seismic shift in the rhythms of daily life -- underwritten by an invisible killer circulating the air; air that we're now only able to take in on essential outings -- our energies and anxieties are understandably reorienting themselves.</p>
<p>One of the recent claims on our collective attention -- one that has become the subject of public, political and corporate discourse and action -- has been <a href="http://www.iheartradio.ca/cjad/news/people-are-hoarding-supplies-as-covid-19-spreads-but-why-and-is-it-useful-an-expert-weighs-in-1.10627522" target="_blank">hoarding</a>: the phenomenon of accumulating goods beyond one's immediate needs, to safeguard in the event of a shortage, and, as a result, hastening up that shortage for everyone else. Facebook users have been posting pictures to publicly shame perceived culprits; a Google search for "COVID hoarding" yields innumerable articles in the media decrying those who fill their shopping carts to the brim; elected officials have <a href="http://www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca/news_item.php?NewsID=116100" target="_blank">pleaded</a> with Canadians to not participate in the frenzy; and stores have instituted one-per-person policies on pandemic-era golden products, like those precious disinfectant wipes.</p>
<p>The novel coronavirus has surely borne many-a-novel experience but, as for hoarding, well, that's hardly one of them. Sure, the physical stockpiling of toilet paper would have seemed dystopic a mere few months ago, but the concept of hoarding is foundational to a capitalist system, one governed by the logic that the limitless capacity to accumulate is the impetus for human innovation and productive activity. Hoarding is more than a right, so we're told, but a prerequisite for human prosperity.</p>
<p>And so, contradictorily, pandemic-era hoarding is being chided by the very political class that facilitates systemic hoarding. Federal tax revenues -- the state's primary anti-hoarding mechanism -- have been <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2020/03/AFB%202020.pdf" target="_blank">shrinking</a> relative to the economy. Despite a "progressive" tax system, the burden of tax revenues is falling increasingly on the middle and lower classes: Canada's corporate tax rate was <a href="http://projects.thestar.com/canadas-corporations-pay-less-tax-than-you-think/" target="_blank">slashed</a> by nearly half between 1997 and 2016 (with the effective tax rate even lower); and an upper limit on the taxable income rate, as well as loopholes benefitting the rich, mean that the wealthiest 1% pay an overall lower rate of tax than everyone else, including the poorest 10 per cent. Other state mechanisms enabling wealth concentration include: minimum wage levels that aren't indexed to the cost of living, making it legal for an employer to extract a full day's work from someone who can’t <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ccpa-rents-minimum-wage-1.5216258" target="_blank">afford</a> a place to live; <a href="http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/august-2018/social-assistance-requires-accountability-federal-leadership/" target="_blank">insufficient</a> social assistance rates; inadequate <a href="http://www.canadianlabourmatters.ca/articles/advocating-for-secure-funding-for-vital-social-services-in-ontario-communities" target="_blank">funding</a> for social services (particularly those for <a href="http://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/10/04/Indigenous-Kid-Funding-Failure/" target="_blank">Indigenous communities</a>); neglected public infrastructure (<a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/hospital-underfunding-in-ontario-hallway-medicine-it-can-be-fixed/5660722" target="_blank">health care</a>, <a href="http://thenarwhal.ca/here-s-why-canadian-cities-struggle-pay-public-transit/" target="_blank">transit</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/canadas-high-schools-are-underfunded-and-turning-to-international-tuition-to-help-127753" target="_blank">schools</a>, <a href="http://cfsontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Factsheet-Underfunding.pdf" target="_blank">colleges/universities</a>, <a href="http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/internet/internet.htm" target="_blank">internet access</a>); <a href="http://www.marxist.ca/article/twenty-years-since-the-sale-of-highway-407-the-failure-of-privatization" target="_blank">privatization</a> of publicly-funded assets; <a href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2019/03/19/Monopoly-Friendly-Canada-Competition-Policy/" target="_blank">anti-competitive</a> business laws; <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-may-26-2019-1.5146999/government-subsidies-for-business-are-greater-than-canada-s-entire-defence-budget-1.5148266" target="_blank">subsidies</a> and <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/study-reveals-secret-canadian-bank-bailout" target="_blank">bailouts</a> to big business; an immigration system designed to <a href="http://migrantrights.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Care-Worker-Voices-for-Landed-Status-and-Fariness.pdf" target="_blank">exploit</a> labour through legal precarity; a law and order establishment heavily <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17505/police_and_poor_people" target="_blank">invested</a> in the protection of private property, while being relatively complacent about <a href="http://www.i20research.com/articles/2019/4/24/why-white-collar-crime-is-legal-in-canada" target="_blank">white collar crime</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cra-corporate-taxes-1.5179489" target="_blank">corporate tax fraud</a> and <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5KJzFNsTDkYJ:https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-we-can-no-longer-ignore-the-exploitation-of-migrant-workers-in-canada/+&amp;cd=1&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=ca" target="_blank">labour injustice</a>; a court system that routinely sides with the right to settler-colonial and imperial capitalist expansion over <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ccJlLf7UaNIJ:https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2017/11/15/religion-is-still-an-instrument-of-colonialism-kanji-amadahy.html+&amp;cd=1&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=ca" target="_blank">Indigenous</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/04/canada-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion-approval-court-upholds" target="_blank">sovereignty</a> and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rana-plaza-disaster-loblaws-supreme-court-1.5240493" target="_blank">labour justice</a>; and international trade deals that <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2020/03/AFB%202020.pdf" target="_blank">prioritize</a> profit-seeking over environmental sustainability, consumer protection and labour rights. </p>
<p>The panoply of laws, norms, practices and mechanisms responsible for creating and sustaining this status quo expose the false premises underlying it. </p>
<p>Firstly, that the state only intervenes for the welfare of the poor and marginalized, while the rich achieve their hoards independently. As Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/392081/the-trouble-with-billionaires-by-linda-mcquaigneil-brooks/9780143174547" target="_blank">argue</a> in <em>The Trouble with Billionaires</em>: "without the rubble of the interfering state,' the rich would have nothing … it is only possible for anyone to own anything -- money, land, jewellery, yachts -- if there is a state to create laws and enforce those laws … Indeed, a government-enforced system of property rights, while theoretically benefiting all, provides far greater benefits to the rich than to the rest of us." And, of course, businesses couldn't turn a profit <a href="http://www.mhca.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/The_Economic_Benefits_of_Public_Infrastructure_Spending_in_Canada.pdf" target="_blank">without</a> the roads, schools and hospitals built with public dollars; and many couldn't even do <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:SylEueesrwYJ:https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-50-report-on-business-the-funding-portal/article19192109/+&amp;cd=1&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=ca" target="_blank">without</a> regular bailouts and handouts. The state apparatus that metes out (insufficient) allowances to the poor draws from the same pool of money that (inordinately) finances personal excess. The free market system doesn't really operate all that freely; but capitalism functions to obscure itself, invisibilizing the public investment required to uphold its functioning and to line the pockets of its winners. </p>
<p>Secondly, that coddling the corporate class and the rich is crucial for our prosperity. In general, interventions that support income equality are actually <a href="http://www.alternet.org/2014/06/5-reasons-rich-are-ruining-economy-hoarding-their-money/" target="_blank">better</a> for economic growth than ones, like tax cuts for the rich, that engender inequality. And, as we've seen, the promised benefits of lowering corporate taxes haven't materialized: <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/3531614/average-hourly-wage-canada-stagnant/" target="_blank">employee wages</a> have stagnated, and <a href="http://behindthenumbers.ca/2018/11/21/corporate-tax-cuts-enrich-shareholders-not-competitiveness/" target="_blank">corporate investment</a> is down. Meanwhile, CEOs are raking it in (23 of Canada's top companies <a href="http://pressprogress.ca/corporate-tax-freedom-day-today-corporate-canada-stops-paying-taxes-and-starts-hoarding-money-for-itself/" target="_blank">paid more</a> in compensation to their top executives in 2018 than they did in tax); and corporate tax savings are being channelled towards <a href="http://behindthenumbers.ca/2018/11/21/corporate-tax-cuts-enrich-shareholders-not-competitiveness/" target="_blank">shareholder payouts</a>, <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2020/03/AFB%202020.pdf" target="_blank">share-buybacks, and mergers</a>, <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2020/03/AFB%202020.pdf" target="_blank">resulting</a> in more concentrated and less competitive industries. </p>
<p>But our government's desire to cultivate a business-friendly and rich-friendly climate isn't really tethered to the goal of collective benefit. In 2017, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau <a href="http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/trudeau-pitches-amazon-on-opening-headquarters-in-canadian-city" target="_blank">penned</a> a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking him to consider Canada for its planned new headquarters, he was offering up the country, and its stolen resources, to a corporation that notoriously <a href="http://footwearnews.com/2019/business/retail/amazon-aoc-workers-wages-1202792547/" target="_blank">underpays</a>, <a href="http://futurism.com/deaths-amazon-list-most-dangerous-employers" target="_blank">overworks</a> and <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/articles/amazon-abuses-workers-and-the-climate-because-it-can/" target="_blank">mistreats</a> its employees to the point of <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/11/amazon-warehouse-reports-show-worker-injuries/602530/" target="_blank">physical injury</a>, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/amazon-the-shocking-911-calls-from-inside-its-warehouses" target="_blank">mental breakdown</a> and even <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/17/amazon-warehouse-worker-deaths" target="_blank">death</a>; leaves in the wake of its operations a huge <a href="http://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/10/16/20917467/amazon-one-day-shipping-bad-for-environment" target="_blank">environmental footprint</a>; expertly <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/02/new-study-deems-amazon-worst-for-aggressive-tax-avoidance" target="_blank">avoids taxes</a> while accepting <a href="http://www.wired.com/story/truth-about-amazon-food-stamps-tax-breaks/" target="_blank">subsidies</a>, ultimately making it a <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/amazon-will-pay-0-in-federal-taxes-this-year.html" target="_blank">net beneficiary</a> of public dollars; and is <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/amazon-true-monopoly-bezos-behemoth-qualify-190712212903436.html" target="_blank">becoming</a> (or arguably <a href="http://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/amazon-is-a-monopoly-an-interview-with-sally-hubbard" target="_blank">already is</a>) a monopoly, an unattractive prospect even by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/monopolies-resulted-in-myth-of-capitalism-2019-1" target="_blank">capitalist standards</a>. It is a corporation headed up by the world's <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2020/01/01/business/jeff-bezos-2019-billionaire-index-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">most successful "hoarder</a>" -- one who <a href="http://i.redd.it/zg4ambceucx01.png" target="_blank">has enough money</a> to "buy a house for every homeless person in America, fix Flint's pipes and cover food costs for food insecure households for six months, and still have more money leftover than most people could ever imagine." Gallingly, this same CEO -- who <a href="http://qz.com/work/1410621/jeff-bezos-makes-more-than-his-least-amazon-paid-worker-in-11-5-seconds/" target="_blank">earns</a> every 11.5 seconds what his lowest-paid employee earns in a year -- is soliciting <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-amazon-jeff-bezos-relief-fund-covid-19-billionaire-net-worth-a9422236.html" target="_blank">donations</a> to a pandemic relief fund for the very employees made poor by his business model. But this is what we should expect when Bezos' continued abundance depends upon the same systems of economic, environmental and racial injustice that he has the cash flow to fix. That PM Trudeau has now <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-signs-agreement-with-amazon-to-distribute-medical-equipment/" target="_blank">chosen</a> Amazon for country-wide distribution of PPE reflects the common belief that big business is a necessary piece in the puzzle of human well-being and advancement. History, however, tells us the exact opposite; as Linda McQuaig <a href="http://rabble.ca/columnists/2020/01/capitalism-deserves-zero-credit-making-world-better-place" target="_blank">writes</a>: "it's not capitalism but rather the forces fighting to curb<em> </em>capitalism's worst excesses -- unions and progressive political movements -- that have improved people's lives."</p>
<p>Thirdly, that it is naive to imagine a society that better serves everyone. According to <a href="http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2020/03/AFB%202020.pdf" target="_blank">costed analysis</a> by the CCPA, "the closure of expensive tax loopholes and higher taxes on corporate profits, extreme incomes and wealth would generate … enough to introduce national pharmacare and child care programs, eliminate post-secondary tuition fees, and cut poverty rates in half by 2025." These programs would even benefit the rich in terms of after-tax incomes; in fact, all but a small elite would stand to gain financially. The status quo isn't, in fact, inevitable; but as Canada's tax revenues dwindle and the pie becomes smaller, so too do our imaginations for something better. </p>
<p>Just as hoarding isn't anomalous to the status quo, but foundational to it, so too is price gouging, also making headlines these days. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, for example, has <a href="http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-corporations-individuals-could-face-staggering-fines-for-price-gouging-1.4872588" target="_blank">threatened</a> deep fines and possible imprisonment for gougers -- those seeking to profit from consumers' COVID-related desperation to hike up the prices of essential goods. Even Amazon has <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2020/3/11/21175719/amazon-restricts-sale-face-masks-hand-sanitizer-coronavirus-price-gouging" target="_blank">supported</a> the effort to clamp down on the practice, by banning the sale of hot items like hand sanitizer. While these interventions are beneficial, they are nonetheless hypocritical coming from a political figure and a corporation deeply committed to the philosophies and operations of free enterprise. Indeed, according to the logics of this system, "<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/coronavirus-there-is-no-such-thing-as-price-gouging/" target="_blank">there is no such thing as price gouging</a>" -- shockingly high prices (and low ones) are mere reflections of market value; the ideal price of any good is determined by the 'invisible hand' of the market, which works to achieve equilibrium between supply and demand. Goals outside of profit-seeking -- such as equitable access -- are written out of the equation, and if anything, are considered hindrances to healthy market functioning. Indeed, 10 per cent of Canadians <a href="http://cupe.ca/making-prescription-drugs-affordable-everyone" target="_blank">can't afford</a> the cost of their prescription drugs and hundreds <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/4178908/deaths-pharmacare-prescription-drug-costs/" target="_blank">die</a> every year as a result -- even while Big Pharma records <a href="http://www.andruswagstaff.com/blog/big-pharma-has-higher-profit-margins-than-any-other-industry/" target="_blank">higher profit margins</a> than almost any other industry. Yet, our federal government hasn't introduced national pharmacare (making it the <a href="http://www.statnews.com/2019/10/28/canada-universal-pharmacare-protect-drug-prices-corporate-greed/" target="_blank">only</a> industrialized "universal" health-care system without drug coverage), even though such a system would reap <a href="http://www.spph.ubc.ca/universal-public-drug-coverage-would-save-canada-billions/" target="_blank">massive savings</a> for Canadians. Clearly, price gouging is precisely what this system not only allows for, but encourages, every day.</p>
<p>And so, we headed into pandemic season having long been subject to the severe misdistributions engendered by systemic hoarding and price gouging. In Canada, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/millionaires-wealth-credit-suisse-canada-1.4870248" target="_blank">1.3 million millionaires</a> and <a href="http://www.cbj.ca/45-canadians-are-billionaires/" target="_blank">45 billionaires</a> co-exist alongside <a href="http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2020/02/24/over-3-million-canadians-lived-below-poverty-line-in-2018/" target="_blank">3.2 million people</a> living below the poverty line; <a href="http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/tens-of-thousands-of-homes-are-sitting-vacant-across-canada-report-1.4621000" target="_blank">1.34 million homes</a> sit vacant or mostly vacant even while <a href="http://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/homelessness-in-canada" target="_blank">235,000 people</a> are homeless; <a href="http://www.inhalton.com/22-million-tonnes-of-food-is-thrown-away-should-canada-legislate-food-waste" target="_blank">2.2 million tonnes</a> of household food waste are generated each year even as 2.5 million people experience food insecurity. These socio-economic disparities translate into material ones; government data <a href="http://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/science-research-data/understanding-report-key-health-inequalities-canada.html" target="_blank">finds</a> early death, disease and mental illness are inversely correlated with economic class. The richer we are, the better and longer are our lives. This -- more so than COVID shopping sprees and opportunistic price hikes -- accounts for the widespread chaos, suffering and death in our world, under pandemic or not.</p>
<p>Our political leaders oversee and facilitate this exact world order every day. So, if they are now taking action against a particular brand of hoarding and price gouging, then what they're rejecting is the <em>auto-immune</em> versions of these phenomena. In medicine, auto-immune refers to the misfiring of the body's self-protective features, causing them to attack the very organism they were designed to protect. Similarly, hoarding and gouging in the era of pandemic are considered worthy of intervention because these otherwise standard features of the system are turning around on it, attacking even its intended beneficiaries. Indeed, if the price of hand sanitizer is too high, and disinfectant wipes too sparse, then even the 1% will be negatively impacted by civil unrest, strain on the health-care system and an incapacitated workforce. </p>
<p>The auto-immune metaphor only applies so far, however. Because while the proper functioning of the body's immune system keeps it safe, the proper functioning of our economic system nonetheless ensures misery, deprivation, fear, despair and death for the majority of the world's people. Our goal can't just be to restore functionality, then; treatment means nothing short of bodily overhaul. </p>
<p>Until we get there, I'll work on cultivating empathy for those with whom I'm vying for the few remaining items on the shelves. Like me, they've been socialized into a world of manufactured deprivation; one in which the learned response to crisis is just a hyperactive version of the ruthless self-interest required of us every other day. Of course, we can ask for better from each other; taking our cue from, say, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200331-the-law-of-generosity-combatting-coronavirus-in-pakistan" target="_blank">Pakistan</a> -- where 25 per cent of people can't even afford to eat two times a day, but where charitable giving has become so overwhelming since the outbreak that some prospective givers are having their donations turned away. So maybe we could aim a little higher. But regardless, we're at the store fighting over toilet paper because, however unkindly we're behaving, we're <em>not</em> Jeff Bezos -- whose status-quo hoarding behaviours allow him to opt out of this particular ad-hoc variety. I think I'll save my anger for him, and the system that created and sustains him, rather than whoever it was who took that last dispenser of disinfectant wipes. </p>
<p><em>Khadijah Kanji holds a masters in social work. She works in therapy, as well as in research, programming, and public education on issues of Islamophobia, racism, transphobia/homophobia and other areas of social justice.</em></p>
<p><em>Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/russloar/49695063433/in/photolist-2iHoc1v-2iTFscH-2iH9DAF-2iGpArf-2iG6fXT-2iFWkMQ-2iFWdNK-2iJNLGE-2iFp9u8-2iFcLnh-2iHbkF8-2iENXVz-2iFys1W-2iFzTBu-2iEQ9aq-2iEKVar-2iEQac5-2iEKVrD-2iEQ171-2iEKVMi-2iENzVm-2iENAtW-2iF9Y5J-2iEQa1D-2iENzp6-2iENBBs-2iEQ3tq-2iEKNSX-2iEQ1za-2iENzzB-2iEKS7c-2iEKR8U-2iEQ4QJ-2iEKRFH-2iEKSqy-2iEQ7tQ-2iENEuB-2iEQ8T8-2iEQ8eT-2iEgKLB-2iE7x89-2iEbHGw-2iE3Jmo-2iE6pu9-2iDSwDV-2iEwFg5-2iTDWC3-2iTDZ6K-2iMpvWK-2iENCep" target="_blank">Russ Allison Loar/Flickr</a></em></p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Apr 2020 21:16:53 +0000the views expressed169330 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2020/04/hoarding-and-price-gouging-arent-pandemic-specific-activities#commentsDeliberate deforestation of Amazon rainforest exposes anti-climate capitalismhttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2019/09/deliberate-deforestation-amazon-rainforest-exposes-anti
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ed Finn</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/48594167912_c67f6f3690_k.jpg?itok=li4nORm6" width="1180" height="600" alt="Satellite image of fires burning the Amazon rainforest on August 11 and August 13, 2019. Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr" title="Satellite image of fires burning the Amazon rainforest on August 11 and August 13, 2019. Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The outbreak of thousands of fires in the Brazilian rainforest starkly exposes the refusal of the world's business and political leaders to take the threat of climate change seriously. For the past 30 years, at successive climate summits, they have piously pledged to curb greenhouse gas emissions, never really intending to make more than token efforts to do so.</p>
<p>Their duplicity was on display at the recent G7 conference, where the countries' leaders collectively promised to donate $20 million to fight the Brazilian inferno. That's about as effective as arming the firefighters with toy squirt guns.</p>
<p>Of course, even if they had increased their contribution to $20 billion, it would still have been a useless gesture. Most of the fires were deliberately ignited, and will continue to be ignited after the current blazes are extinguished, regardless of the amount ostensibly contributed for firefighting.</p>
<p>That's because the big international mining, logging and farming corporations that the Brazilian government has invited to exploit the country's jungle need thousands of acres of open land. And that requires the equivalent acreage of deforestation, which is most easily accomplished by setting the forest alight. The country's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, like most of his predecessors, makes economic development a top priority, even when it involves the discharge of massive amounts of harmful carbon dioxide and methane, and the eventual depletion of indispensable oxygen.</p>
<p>Here is where the nub of the climate crisis is exposed. The damaging effects of these emissions are not confined to the country that emits them. They ultimately impair the well-being of everyone on the planet.</p>
<p><strong>Capitalism vs. the climate</strong></p>
<p>To deal with such a worldwide menace calls for worldwide unity in mounting effective countermeasures. Unfortunately, we live on a planet whose population is dispersed among 195 separate countries, with different sizes, systems of government, laws, leaders, languages, religions, and climates, as well as differing levels of poverty and inequality.</p>
<p>As if all these barriers to forging a global convergence were not formidable enough, there's another one that is even more daunting. It's the main reason why our business and political leaders have remained so adamantly inactive in confronting climate change: <em>because the world's predominant economic system is based on the perpetuation of economic growth, and thus inherently on the perpetuation of global warming.</em></p>
<p>Capitalism can only thrive -- or even survive a few decades longer -- while economic growth remains unlimited and continuous. It's a disastrous fantasy that assumes our planet's natural resources are inexhaustible when they clearly are not. As thousands of world scientists have pointed out many times over the past 50 years, "Earth is finite. Its ability to absorb wastes and effluent is finite. Its ability to provide food and energy is finite. Its ability to provide for growing populations is finite. <em>And we are fast approaching many of these planetary limits."</em></p>
<p>These repeated warnings by climatologists have gone unheeded by world leaders because they conflict with the basic precept on which capitalism is founded -- that corporations must be left free to accumulate the largest possible amounts of profits, power and prestige. Regardless of how much the planet's climate is contaminated.</p>
<p>Politicians and CEOs who adhere to this ultimately cataclysmic ideology -- the vast majority of them -- are never willingly going to make any serious attempt to curb its devastating damage to the climate. To them, capitalism is a sacrosanct creed that must always be followed, even if it leads inescapably toward a colossal lemming-like march to the abyss.</p>
<p><strong>Corporations set political agenda</strong></p>
<p>It is only with this revelation that we can understand what has really been happening in Brazil. It's an all-too common event in a world in which corporations wield complete political as well as financial power. A world in which most governments serve the interests of big business rather than interests of the voters who elect them.</p>
<p>In such a world, dominated economically and politically by capitalism and splintered among so many countries, the president of just one country is free to chop and burn down the planet's "lungs" without any fear of being stopped by the other 194 countries that are being adversely affected.</p>
<p>Hypothetically, the countries whose corporations are deforesting Brazil, and thereby accelerating the climate crisis, could order them to stop doing so. But in a world where governments basically permit corporations to pursue profits however and wherever they can -- and even help them do so -- that hardly ever happens. Only when a corporation's excessive greed becomes so blatantly obvious and injurious that it can no longer be excused will some political constraint be exerted, and occasionally fines imposed.</p>
<p>Given the global dominance of capitalism, then, it is difficult to conceive bright prospects for the future. If we had a world government with a worldwide democratic socialist economy -- sort of a globalized Sweden -- instead of 195 disparate and often feuding nations, capitalism would not even exist, and neither would climate change.</p>
<p>Instead, we have a predatory global economy in which profit-making and avarice prevail. If something can be exploited, developed, produced and sold for a profit, it keeps getting produced and marketed, regardless of the many baneful and catastrophic consequences.</p>
<p>We therefore live in a world in which:</p>
<ul>
<li>Deforestation is profitable.</li>
<li>Extracting and burning fossil fuels is profitable.</li>
<li>Global warming is profitable.</li>
<li>Depleting non-renewable resources is profitable.</li>
<li>Pollution is profitable.</li>
<li>War is profitable.</li>
<li>Illness is profitable.</li>
<li>Poverty and inequality are profitable.</li>
<li>Offshore tax havens are profitable.</li>
<li>Junk food is profitable.</li>
<li>Low wages are profitable.</li>
<li>Unsafe workplaces are profitable.</li>
<li>Purchasing politicians is profitable.</li>
</ul>
<p>Conversely, any program or policy that would benefit most people, but not make a profit for the rich and powerful -- e.g., clean air and water, fair wages and pensions, elimination of poverty -- will be rated very low on corporate and political "to-do" lists, especially in countries (and provinces) ruled by ultra-conservative autocrats. Corporate-controlled governments, far from curbing the economic and environmental ravages of these corporations (such as SNC-Lavalin and Bombardier), instead lavish them with billions in subsidies derived from workers' tax payments.</p>
<p>Despite these somber reflections, I still cling to some semblance of hope for the future. But the grim reality is that capitalism and a clean climate are clearly incompatible.</p>
<p>Climatologists give us another 11 years before reaching the crucial tipping point beyond which any further effort to avoid Armageddon will be futile. The likelihood of capitalism being toppled before 2030 may seem absurd, but miracles occasionally do happen.</p>
<p>Let us pray.</p>
<p><em>Ed Finn </em><em>grew up in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, where he worked as a printer's apprentice, reporter, columnist and editor of that city’s daily newspaper, the </em>Western Star<em>. His career as a journalist included 14 years as a labour relations columnist for the </em>Toronto Star<em>. He was part of the world of politics between 1959 and 1962, serving as the first provincial leader of the NDP in Newfoundland. He worked closely with Tommy Douglas for some years and helped defend and promote medicare legislation in Saskatchewan.</em></p>
<p><em>Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/48594167912/in/photolist-2h36P8f-2h1vCzF-2gYjUwi-2gzH44H-2h2M12Y-2gJDkoW-2gGBJad-2gEfVKN-2gEfMPC-2gzjQQK-2fYp7oe-TKQYmo-2evaRLZ-2fwnqhG-2e9nRxe-2epBt1w-2fqSJbA-2fqSJ7C-Tni1sy-2e7DTng-RK9ggT-24TZGBg-2e7DThB-2epzzoW-2fvyjX6-2e7DTd8-24TZGnt-24TZGjT-2fvyjLK-2gdDXhL-2g9Liay-2fLDfoC-2eb2kRP-24TZGKH-24TZGni-2fvyjL4-2fvyjKT-TjNJEE-2ekSHsm-TbUk73-2e6b8Xu-2e5tXdd-2dg18fM-243bHHc-SgfNbN-2dhNqFE-2ejfAuu-QCwPpg-SfHPc7-2ejfaro" target="_blank">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Flickr</a></em></p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 04 Sep 2019 15:18:19 +0000the views expressed164861 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2019/09/deliberate-deforestation-amazon-rainforest-exposes-anti#commentsCanada continues trade negotiations with Brazil as Amazon burnshttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2019/08/canada-continues-trade-negotiations-brazil-amazon-burns
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Diana Yoon</div><div class="field-item odd">Ian Borsuk</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/45567621401_d429bff6e6_o.jpg?itok=mvg06T2_" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><em>Diana Yoon is a climate justice activist and currently the NDP candidate for Spadina-Fort York. Ian Borsuk is an environmentalist and community organiser in Hamilton.</em></p>
<p>The Canadian government should show leadership and halt trade negotiations with the Mercosur Bloc (which includes Brazil) to stop an unprecedented acceleration in deforestation of the Amazon. </p>
<p>The Amazon is often referred to as the "lungs of the world" -- but top scientists in Brazil have sounded the alarm that the already devastating amount of deforestation has increased at an unprecedented rate under the government of President Jair Bolsonaro. This deforestation has largely been to make way for cattle ranching, crops and land speculation. </p>
<p>This week, Bolsonaro turned down international support and demonstrated weak interest in trying to stop or slow down the fires. In fact, he has made it clear that his government's economic ambitions trump any concern for environmental impact or Indigenous rights. Bolsonaro even took the Harper-esque step of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/03/americas/brazil-space-institute-director-fired-amazon-deforestation-intl/index.html" target="_blank">firing</a> the head scientist of Brazil's National Space and Research Institute for defending the satellite data gathered that showed an <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/458511-the-implications-and-fallout-from-the-huge-surge-in-amazon" target="_blank">88 per cent increase</a> in deforestation compared to last year. And to top it off, Bolsonaro's environment minister proposed <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f791bbc6-c2c3-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9" target="_blank">"monetising"</a> the Amazon by opening it up to commercial development as a solution to illegal logging. We cannot let this kind of absurd corporate greed run unchecked. </p>
<p>Brazillian <a href="https://time.com/5658418/europe-brazil-amazon-deforestation-tension/" target="_blank">scientists</a> are calling for international pressure on the Bolsonaro government to stop the destruction. French President Emmanuel <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/amazon-rainforest-fires-macron-calls-for-international-crisis-to-lead-g7-discussions">Macron</a> has stated that the fires amount to an international crisis and was joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in calling for the fires to be put on the G7's weekend meeting agenda last week. Tensions between Bolsonaro and Norway and Germany have mounted after the two European countries froze funds transferred to Brazil to help fight deforestation -- the freeze a result of Bolsonaro refusing to actually spend the funds on their agreed upon purpose. </p>
<p>Despite this, Bolsonaro is now <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/bjwz3m/brazils-president-bolsonaro-is-now-spreading-conspiracy-theories-about-the-amazon-fires" target="_blank">claiming</a> that the country lacks the resources to stop the fires. Bolsonaro even floated the accusation that NGOs were starting the fires as a way to discredit his government, which has also seen major protests led by Indigenous women against his government's policies. </p>
<p>And yet, the Liberal Party of Canada has continued to work closely with Bolsonaro, notably continuing trade negotiations despite his history of anti-black, anti-indigenous, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-environment rhetoric and actions. Canada and Brazil are also both members of the Lima Group -- a coalition of countries convened to intervene in the Venezuela. </p>
<p>In a time of climate crisis, the Amazon fires are a clear example of what's ahead if our governments continue to prioritize corporate greed over Indigenous rights and land. Canada has a global responsibility to halt trade with Bolsonaro while the Amazon burns.</p>
<p>To let this crisis to continue to go on is near criminal. Indigenous people in the Amazon are losing their homes and land to industry aggression. The smoke from the fires has gotten so bad that images of Albertan cities during our new <a href="https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/05/30/air-quality-warning-in-effect-for-edmonton-as-smoke-blankets-city.html" target="_blank">"smoke season"</a> look tame in comparison to São Paulo being <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/20/sudden-darkness-befalls-sao-paulo-western-hemispheres-largest-city-baffling-thousands/" target="_blank">plunged into darkness</a> as a major source of oxygen for the entire planet burns. </p>
<p>Just this year, the Liberals passed NDP MP Romeo Saganash's Bill C-262, which enshrines the The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Canadian law, and declared climate change to be a national emergency. It's time for Canada show leadership on these two vitally important efforts and join with other global leaders to find a solution to this crisis. </p>
<p>As young people who have dedicated our lives to tackling the climate crisis, we are urging our federal government to take a stand against the destructive inaction that is causing irreparable harm to the health of the Brazilian people and our global climate.</p>
<p>As we approach a federal election, it's time for Canadian voters to demand that the burning Amazon, Indigenous rights, and the climate crisis be critical election issues. If Justin Trudeau and his party do not act, Canada deserves a leader and a government that will.</p>
<p><em>Image: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/astro_alex/45567621401" target="_blank">Alexander Gerst</a>/Flickr</em></p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 29 Aug 2019 22:14:46 +0000the views expressed164666 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2019/08/canada-continues-trade-negotiations-brazil-amazon-burns#commentsIntroducing RadioLabour Canada on rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/radiolabour/2019/01/introducing-radiolabour-canada-rabbleca
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/about/bios/radiolabour">RadioLabour</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-10 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/podcasts/shows/radiolabour">RadioLabour</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/rl-logo-pic.png?itok=oRgUNXeO" width="1180" height="600" alt="Introducing - RadioLabour Canada on rabble.ca" title="Image: RadioLabour" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">January 11, 2019</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/labour">Labour</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>All of our listeners and readers know about rabble.ca's commitment to labour news. "For a long time, I've been looking for a way to do Canadian labour news in podcast form on a regular basis, so I am very excited and happy to begin this partnership between Canadian produced RadioLabour and rabble podcasts. Thanks to RadioLabour's Marc Belanger for making this happen" - Victoria Fenner, executive producer of rabble podcasts.</p>
<p>On today's show, RadioLabour Canada’s Country Report for the week January 7-11, 2019</p>
<ul>
<li>How building a care economy can help workers and the environment. The Canadian Labour Congress's campaign for care workers.</li>
<li>The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is fighting back against the implementation of a 21 year old sex-ed curriculum that doesn't mention same-sex relationships, consent, and gender identity.</li>
<li>Amazon is ignoring workers rights, allowing dangerous conditions in its warehouses and, because of its size, poised to monopolize even more markets. UNI Global Union says it’s time to break up the company.</li>
<li>The LabourStart Report about union events around the country.</li>
<li>And singing: <em>A Woman’s Place Is In Her Union - </em>Performed by Union Nation - a musical group formed by International Association of Machinists. Used with Permission. </li>
</ul>
<p>About <a href="http://www.radiolabour.net" target="_blank">RadioLabour</a>:</p>
<p>RadioLabour is the international labour movement’s radio service. It was established nine years ago to report on union issues and events with an emphasis on developing countries. It is now producing country-specific programmes starting with Canada. Its primary reporters are members of The Canadian Freelance Union, a community chapter of UNIFOR. Its host is Marc Bélanger, a former head of the labour education programme of the International Labour Organization in Turin Italy. RadioLabour’s reporters are accredited by the International Federation of Journalists.</p>
<p><em>Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/donate/">Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!</a></em></p>
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</div></div></div>Fri, 11 Jan 2019 13:51:56 +0000MarcBelanger155641 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/radiolabour/2019/01/introducing-radiolabour-canada-rabbleca#commentsAmazon headquarters auction another example of corporate welfarehttps://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/11/amazon-headquarters-auction-another-example-corporate-welfare
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/economy">Economy</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/labour">Labour</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/1280px-Amazon_-_Patent_Drive%2C_Wednesbury_-_sign_%2837813020024%29.jpg?itok=85W95K0g" width="1180" height="600" alt="Amazon sign in Birmingham, U.K. Photo: Elliott Brown/Wikimedia Commons" title="Amazon sign in Birmingham, U.K. Photo: Elliott Brown/Wikimedia Commons" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Amazon made its long-awaited announcement this week, revealing where it will site its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. The selection process pitted more than 200 cities against each other, vying for the prospect of hosting the new corporate campus with its promised 50,000 well-paying, white-collar jobs. Politicians prostrated themselves before the online behemoth and its CEO/founder, Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, as they competed to lavish the company with as many enticing public subsidies and tax breaks as possible. The winning city would flourish, they hoped, with increasing tax revenues and the emergence of a vibrant tech hub to rival Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>In the end, Amazon announced that HQ2 would be divided into two smaller locations, one in Queens, New York, and the other in Crystal City, Virginia. While the details of the publicly financed subsidies remain shrouded, what is known so far is enough to confirm the worst fears of Amazon's many critics: The HQ2 auction was, at best, a boondoggle, yet another example of corporate welfare, transferring wealth from working-class taxpayers to a massive corporation and its billionaire owner.</p>
<p>"I am absolutely outraged that New York, under Governor (Andrew) Cuomo, is willing to give away up to $3 billion of taxpayers' money without any consultation," progressive Democratic New York State Assembly Member Ron Kim said on the <em>Democracy Now!</em> news hour, the day after Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio released details of New York City's winning bid for the scaled-down HQ2.</p>
<p>"I'm introducing legislation to claw back this deal," Kim continued. "What's the point of having a majority progressive Democrat state Senate, that we worked so hard for in the state of New York, if we can't stop one man from transferring $3 billion of taxpayers' money to the richest man on this planet?" Kim was referring to last week's Democratic Party takeover of the New York state Senate for only the third time in the past half-century. Along with the Democrat-controlled Assembly in which he serves, Kim is optimistic that the generous subsidies can be rescinded.</p>
<p><em>Time</em> magazine calculated that it takes Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos only nine seconds to earn $28,000, what the median Amazon worker earns in a year. Greg LeRoy of Good Jobs First has long watchdogged what he calls "persistent megadeals" like New York and Virginia's courting of HQ2. "It's another example of Amazon getting paid to do what it would have done anyway," he said on <em>Democracy Now! </em>"It wanted to be in the financial capital of the world and the political capital of the country, so no surprises about its location. We're massively subsidizing, yet again, a company to do what it wants to do anyway."</p>
<p>In response to De Blasio's claim that HQ2 will provide opportunities "for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, everyday New Yorkers, kids who come up through our public schools, kids who go to our community colleges and our four-year colleges," LeRoy says that "four out of five, typically, of the new job-takers at a project like this will not be current residents of New York or Arlington (Virginia). They will be people moving to the area from outside. That means a lot of growth getting induced, a lot of schools having to be expanded and infrastructure built and public services provided." All these paid for by the taxpayers, not by Amazon.</p>
<p>LeRoy also notes that Amazon "is the biggest cloud computing company in the world. It has roughly a 40-per-cent market share. And among its most lucrative clients in that space are the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency and other federal agencies." That's why the other HQ2 is planned for Crystal City, Virginia -- as LeRoy says, "very close -- literally, practically a stone's throw from -- the Pentagon."</p>
<p>"Amazon Doesn't Just Want to Dominate the Market -- It Wants to Become the Market," read a headline for a <em>Nation</em> article written by Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. "It's now capturing one out of every two dollars that Americans spend online," she said on <em>Democracy Now!</em> Additionally, it kills small businesses. "We're losing about two retail jobs for every one job created in an Amazon warehouse," she said. The central threat, she added, is that "Amazon is about controlling the essential infrastructure that other companies need to use in order to reach the market … if you're any company producing or retailing anything, increasingly, if you want to be able to reach consumers, you have to become a seller on Amazon's platform. And what that means is that Amazon now controls your business."</p>
<p>Jeff Bezos originally called his company "Cadabra," as in "abracadabra," but, legend has it, his lawyer told him it sounded too much like "cadaver." Will Amazon's HQ2 spark a magical, high-tech age in Queens, or will it kill small businesses, drive up rents and leave the cadaver of a working-class neighbourhood in its wake?</p>
<p><em>Amy Goodman is the host of </em>Democracy Now!<em>, a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,300 stations. She is the co-author, with Denis Moynihan, of</em> The Silenced Majority<em>, a</em> New York Times <em>bestseller. <em><em><em><em><em><em><em><em>T</em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em>his column originally appeared on </em><a href="https://www.truthdig.com/articles/why-amazon-wants-a-piece-of-the-political-and-financial-capitals-of-the-world/" target="_blank">Truthdig</a>.</p>
<p><em>Photo: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amazon_-_Patent_Drive,_Wednesbury_-_sign_(37813020024).jpg" target="_blank">Elliott Brown/Wikimedia Commons</a></em></p>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/corporate-welfare">corporate welfare</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/online-shopping">online shopping</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/corporate-subsidies">Corporate subsidies</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/38364">Amy Goodman</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/bios/denis-moynihan">Denis Moynihan</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">November 15, 2018</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/07/fight-stop-digital-oligarchs-and-save-net-neutrality" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The fight to stop digital oligarchs and save net neutrality</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item1-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">ISP corporations are trying to control the internet, to restrict the free flow of information, to restore their historical role of for-profit arbiter of what we can and cannot read, watch or hear.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/penney-kome/2013/12/amazons-drones-will-deliver-future-online-shopping">Amazon&#039;s drones will deliver the future of online shopping</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item2-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> Business and media leaders hail Jeff Bezos as an innovator, for having founded the Amazon online bookstore, which has changed the entire publishing industry -- now he wants to get into groceries.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3 field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://rabble.ca/babble/labour-and-consumption/amazon-our-desperate-and-vacant-future" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">babble: Amazon is our desperate and vacant future</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-item3-desc field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">&quot;It&#039;s a form of piracy capitalism. They rush into people&#039;s countries, they take the money out, and they dump it in some port of convenience.&quot;</div></div></div>Thu, 15 Nov 2018 15:22:59 +0000rabble staff153556 at https://rabble.cahttps://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/11/amazon-headquarters-auction-another-example-corporate-welfare#commentsWomen environmental tacticianshttps://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/wings/2015/10/women-environmental-tacticians
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/bios/melinda-tuhus">Melinda Tuhus</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-10 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/podcasts/shows/wings">WINGS</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/ban_fracking.png?itok=0A-6qaKt" width="1180" height="600" alt="" title="Ban Fracking" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">October 17, 2015</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/indigenous-rights">Indigenous Rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/environment">Environment</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/feminism">Feminism</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p><em>Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. <a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/donate/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Chip in</a> to keep stories like these coming.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://secure.rabble.ca/donate/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/rabble/files/node-images/donategreen.png" width="120" height="30" /></a></p>
<p>From banning fracking to respecting the rights of mother earth, women employ all means at their disposal, including science education for the public, petitions, blockading, marching, speaking, singing, and putting their lives on the line. Includes coverage of women's actions at the UN Climate Summit in Lima, Peru.</p>
<p><strong>Host(s):</strong> Melinda Tuhus, Frieda Werden</p>
<p><strong>Featured Speakers/Guests:</strong> Interviewees: biologist Sandra Steingraber, active in the successful campaign to ban fracking in New York State, and a leader of the We Are Seneca Lake protest movement; Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women's Earth &amp; Climate Action Network; Speakers: Sonia Guajajara, National Coordinator of Brazil's Association of Indigenous Peoples, Maranhão, Brazil; Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation elder, actress, long-time activist, and Indigenous Environmental Network representative; Nina Gualinga, Kichwa youth leader from Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazon </p>
<p><strong>Credits:</strong> Interviews and narration by Melinda Tuhus; additional editing by Frieda Werden; additional audio, courtesy Democracy Now, via the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network.</p>
<p><strong>Comments:</strong> Suggested to air before November 30, 2015 when the next (and supposedly final) UN Climate Summit begins in Paris.</p>
<p> </p>
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</div></div></div>Sun, 18 Oct 2015 00:28:22 +0000wingsradio121063 at https://rabble.caAmazon villagers pursue Chevron's assets in Canada https://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2015/01/amazon-villagers-pursue-chevrons-assets-canada
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/bios/contributor/redeye-collective">Redeye Collective</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-10 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/podcasts/shows/redeye">Redeye</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/default_images/rabble-filler-photo.jpg?itok=sM2nM-OL" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">January 28, 2015</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/indigenous-rights">Indigenous Rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/environment">Environment</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>When Chevron bought Texaco in 2001, it inherited its liability for the devastation of Amazon rain forest in the late 1960s. Now Chevron is fighting to avoid paying billions of dollars in damages. Kevin Keonig is program director for Amazon Watch in Ecuador. He talks to Redeye host Jane Williams about the twists and turns in this 50-year-old fight for compensation. </p>
<p>Check out our <a href="http://www.coopradio.org/redeye" rel="nofollow">website</a> for more information about Redeye.</p>
<p>Find us on Facebook and like our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/redeyecoopradio" rel="nofollow">page</a> for regular updates. </p>
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</div></div></div>Thu, 29 Jan 2015 01:01:01 +0000redeye115825 at https://rabble.caUncontacted tribes in Peru threatened by energy industryhttps://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2014/07/uncontacted-tribes-peru-threatened-energy-industry
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/bios/contributor/redeye-collective">Redeye Collective</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-10 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/podcasts/shows/redeye">Redeye</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/default_images/rabble-filler-photo.jpg?itok=sM2nM-OL" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">July 15, 2014</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/indigenous-rights">Indigenous Rights</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>There are still hunter-gatherer groups in the Amazon who have had little or no contact with the outside world. Oil and gas exploration brings the threat of disease and catastrophic loss of life. Rebecca Spooner is a campaigner with Survival International in London, England. She speaks with Redeye host Jane Williams.</p>
<p>Check out our <a href="http://www.vcn.bc.ca/redeye" rel="nofollow">website</a> for more information about Redeye.</p>
<p>Find us on Facebook and like our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/redeyecoopradio" rel="nofollow">page</a> for regular updates. </p>
<p> </p>
</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/logging">logging</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/peru">Peru</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/oil-and-gas-industry">oil and gas industry</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/resource-extraction">resource extraction</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/disease">disease</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/uncontacted-tribes">uncontacted tribes</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-mp3 field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">
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</div></div></div>Tue, 15 Jul 2014 15:15:32 +0000redeye111993 at https://rabble.caAmazon's drones will deliver the future of online shoppinghttps://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/penney-kome/2013/12/amazons-drones-will-deliver-future-online-shopping
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Penney Kome</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/node-images/zappos_fulfillment_center.jpg?itok=7UM9XY3s" width="1180" height="600" alt="Image: wikimedia commons" title="Image: wikimedia commons" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Amazon founder Jeff Bezos delights in being "disruptive," TV newsmagazine <em>60 Minutes </em>said Sunday. Bezos' online bookstore "disrupted" bookselling; his Kindle e-book reader "disrupted" publishing. "Disrupt" is an interesting word. Others have said that Amazon has profited mightily by destroying other companies and even whole industries.</p>
<p>"The death toll tells the tale. Two decades ago, there were about 4000 independent bookstores in the United States; only about 1900 remain. And now, even the victors are imperiled," wrote Steve Wasserman in <em>The Nation</em>. He declared the Bookstore Wars over and a new, more serious war underway: "Independents are battered, Borders is dead, Barnes &amp; Noble weakened but still standing and Amazon triumphant. Yet still there is no peace; a new war rages for the future of publishing."</p>
<p>Amazon's drive to sell Kindle e-book readers has cost regular publishers dearly. Amazon forced them (if they wanted Amazon to sell their hardcopy books) to make digital works available for no more than $9.99, thus driving down profits available to other partners involved with the work, such as the author. Since the Kindle reader was the product -- the device, not the works themselves -- Amazon gained commercial advantage by driving down the value of the works.</p>
<p>The latest "disruption," says Bezos, is that within five years, Amazon mini-drones may be able to deliver anything a customer could desire, including groceries, with 30-minute delivery in urban areas. This would disrupt the retail engine that drives 70 per cent of the North American economy -- and incidentally, apparently, crash retail workers' wages and working conditions to warehouse workers' levels.</p>
<p>The <a href="/www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/lAZRiF8BTzazhjKy9ZlV5camUOze_71_/amazon-s-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/" rel="nofollow"><em>60 Minutes</em> segment on Bezos and Amazon</a> came from a laudatory business angle. "Amazon has changed the way we read, shop and compute," said segment host Charlie Rose. "It has 225 million customers around the world. Its goal is to sell everything to everyone."</p>
<p>While British reporter Carol Cadwalladr agrees that Amazon is indeed the future of shopping, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/01/week-amazon-insider-feature-treatment-employees-work" rel="nofollow">her recent article in<em> The Observer</em></a>, concludes that "being an Amazon 'associate' in an Amazon 'fulfilment centre' -- take that for doublespeak, Mr. Orwell! – is the future of work; and Amazon's payment of minimal tax in any jurisdiction is the future of global business."</p>
<p>To show how efficient and computerized Amazon is, Charlie Rose displayed warehouses with items stacked by size, not category. <em>60 Minutes</em> cameras followed Amazon staff -- so-called "Pick Ambassadors" -- pushing carts down the aisles of million-square-mile warehouses, to find specific items by using computers and handheld scanners.</p>
<p>Cadwalladr went undercover for a Pick Ambassador job in an Amazon UK order fulfillment centre. "On my second day, the manager tells us that we alone have picked and packed 155,000 items in the past 24 hours. Tomorrow, December 2 -- the busiest online shopping day of the year -- that figure will be closer to 450,000. And this is just one of eight warehouses across the country." </p>
<p> "Amazon warehouse jobs push workers to physical limit," said the headline on a story by <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2017901782_amazonwarehouse04.html" rel="nofollow">Hal Bernton and Susan Kelleher in <em>The Seattle Times</em> a couple years ago.</a> Reporting from Campbellville, KY, they looked at the "massive blue collar work force" -- some 15,000 workers in U.S. order fulfillment warehouses -- roaming Amazon's warehouses 24 hours a day to get the orders out.</p>
<p>On the plus side, Amazon offers employees profit sharing after two years on the job, health insurance, and contributes to individual workers' registered pension plans. On the other hand, the reporters found that Pick Ambassadors work hard, long hours, often 50 hours a week. Bernton and Kelleher report that, "On an average day, 51-year-old Connie Milby covered more than 10 miles in her tennis shoes, walking and climbing up and down three flights of stairs to retrieve tools, toys and a vast array of other merchandise for Amazon.com shoppers." This kind of constant walking on concrete floors has been linked to microfractures of foot bones, says the story.</p>
<p>Connie Milby may be able to hang up her tennis shoes before long, though. Amazon plans to install robots to handle the picking and packing. And by 2017, said Bezos, Amazon expects to have a fleet of miniature drones that could fulfill orders in 30-minutes, within certain urban areas.</p>
<p>Amazon's final "disruptive" triumph may spell an economic turning point for North America, at least, when management seriously considers totally eliminating the need for actual human workers.</p>
<p>With the manufacturing sector hollowed out, service industries outsourced to distant call centres, phones and tablets gobbling up what was once the personal computer market -- with the Internet destroying occupation after occupation – pretty soon there will be nothing for most of the population to do except play video games online and await our monthly Guaranteed Annual Income cheques -- delivered by drones.</p>
<p><em>Image: wikimedia commons</em></p>
</p></div></div></div>Mon, 02 Dec 2013 19:36:09 +0000Penney Kome105183 at https://rabble.caTalisman Energy pulls out of Peruvian Amazon https://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2012/10/talisman-energy-pulls-out-peruvian-amazon
<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/bios/contributor/redeye-collective">Redeye Collective</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-10 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/podcasts/shows/redeye">Redeye</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-for-node field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="https://rabble.ca/sites/default/files/styles/large_story_850px/public/default_images/rabble-filler-photo.jpg?itok=sM2nM-OL" width="1180" height="600" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-story-publish-date field-type-date field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">October 1, 2012</span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-22 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/environment">Environment</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>The Achuar people live along the border of Peru and Ecuador. Last month they won a long battle to stop a Canadian energy company from drilling in their territory. It took several trips from their remote villages in the Amazon basin to Talisman’s headquarters in Calgary. Redeye host Jane Williams spoke with Gregor MacLennan of Amazon Watch.</p>
<p>To find out more about Redeye, check out our <a href="http://www.coopradio.org/redeye" rel="nofollow">website</a>.</p>
</p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-9 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/9028">environment</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/indigenous-rights">Indigenous rights</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/land">land</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/mining">mining</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/amazon">amazon</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags-issues/drilling">drilling</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags-issues/oil-and-gas">Oil and Gas</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-23 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/category/regions/ab">AB</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-mp3 field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">
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</div></div></div>Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:01:25 +0000redeye95736 at https://rabble.ca